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June 26, 2006

Pakistan: Just Another Muslim Honor Killing

Honor killing, along with "vani" marriages (where a child is given away in marriage as part of a compensation deal by village courts), was made illegal in Pakistan in late 2004, becoming illegal in practice in early 2005. Despite this, the Pakistan Human Rights Commission states that at least 1,000 people, mainly young women, are murdered for not complying with social etiquette.

Today's Pakistan Daily Times reports on another sad incident of honour killing, carried out by a 35-year old furniture polisher, Abid Hussain.

Hussain, an inhabitant of Zia Colony, located in Korangi in Karachi, Sindh province, had only reluctantly married his wife Afsheen about a year ago. He had been initially attracted to her, and had arranged the marriage through his family, but then hesitated when plans were set. He argued that his younger brother should marry Afsheen. His brother was abroad, but when he came back, he declined to marry her. Abid Hussain and Afsheen eventually tied the knot.

Their marriage was not happy, and a few weeks ago, she returned to her mother's house. It appears that the reason Hussain became suspicious of his wife, who had become pregnant, was because he trusted the words of a hakeem, a religious medicine man. Police state that this hakeem had said that Hussain was incapable of producing children, and he trusted a quack doctor rather than his wife.

So early this morning, he went to his wife, who was seven months' pregnant, and slit her throat, killing her and her unborn child. Last week, he had apparently verbally divorced her, by chanting "Talaq" three times.

After he killed Afsheen, the furniture-polisher went to a relative's home, and mentioned what he had done, and they called the police. Afsheen's brother Waqar registered a file report with the police, who are now awaiting autopsy reports. When the pregnancy is officially confirmed, they are likely to further charge Hussain with the murder of the child.

Poor Afsheen was never valued as a human being. She was a chattel. Hussain thought she could be given away in marriage to his brother, as if a marriage did not include the feelings of the wife. As we have stated, in Pakistan, where marriages are officially arranged, but often "forced", the views of the woman are rarely taken into consideration. And within such a cultural milieu, it is little wonder that honor killings occur so frequently.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 26, 2006 8:40 PM

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